Horses for courses - a looong procession this year for the Sandwich #wassail, with various #hoodening beasts and others.

A nice description of our Hoodening by Martin Urch: martinurch.substack.com/p/hoodening #folkcustom #folktradition #guising #wintersolstice

Here's another online opportunity for non-locals to learn something about the #EastKent #calendarcustom of #hoodening, courtesy of @folkloresociety.bsky.social Date/time: 16 Dec 2025, 19:00 (suits those in USA too, q.v. www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/c...) www.folklore-society.com/event/the-ho...

Various other teams are also #hoodening around #Thanet & environs this winter season: see image/ALT for the Whitstable schedule. They'll do both #Whitstable and #Swale plays (see if you can spot the difference...).

Our next online talk is this coming Sunday, 7th December, at 8pm GMT. James Frost will be talking about Christmas hobby horse traditions with a focus on hooden horses. Tickets are just £5, including a video replay of the event, and income supports our charity work. Book now at bit.ly/flaevents

Spot the errors in the picture... Actually, don't. It's AI of course (Gemini wrote a kids' storybook, and to be fair, it did pretty well); but the *encouraging* thing is that because we share so few images (and almost no videos) of real hooden horses, it's got nothing to build on. Hence... ➡️ 1/2 🐴

A recent acquaintance from the hoodening moot in Reculver: born this year in Deal, and still lacking a team to hooden with. The heaviest #hoodenhorse in East Kent!

The season's slowly starting - we now have a script, a song, and also a cause: this year's charity is The Gap Project in Broadstairs. (1/3) www.justgiving.com/page/hoodeni...

We're not really awake yet - a while until the season starts - but have been urgently asked to find dancing horses for a charity event in London THIS THURSDAY (2 Oct). Hooden horses don't dance, but praps some Morris / Mumming beasts are up for this 'fun & chaos'? A fee could be paid! Let us know.

What to call a black-headed snapper or skull horse prancing around with #morrisdancers? IMHO #morrisbeast *not* #marilwyd or #hoodenhorse. #folkfusion = tradition dilution, no? A #wassailing #krampus, really‽ It's as bad as AI's view of #folklore customs. For fun, once, maybe… but leave it at that.

Last night's #EastKent #wassail with apple yowling song (by Gail Duff, q.v. jcrhumming.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/g...) and black powder musket shots. It was followed by the #Mummers of Boyden Gate performing for @pilgrimshospices.bsky.social - donate via www.justgiving.com/page/mummers...

How long have humans been making models of animals with snapping jaws? Fans of #marilwyd, #schimmelreiter, #soulcaking, #ooser, #pooroldhorse, #schnabelgeissen, #hoodenhorses, etc. often claim "thousands of years" but this is the first example we've seen verifiably dated to 3400 years ago:

Some of the herd at Ashford #wassail this evening

#Dogwalkers and #ramblers in #EastKent ... if you happen to see a horse (of the #hooden variety) struggling in the water- the #RiverStour or even the #EnglishChannel - do let us know, as one threw her human and went for a dip. Human is fine.

Hooden horses, miscellaneous #guising / #MorrisDance beasts and ramblers joining the January 2025 #Wassail Walk in Sandwich, Kent (UK).

The Poor Old Horse (T'Owd'Oss) performing on Christmas Eve in Richmond/Yorkshire. Longer version at www.instagram.com/p/DEZhaZiyiLo/ #pooroldhorse #yorkshirefolklore #yorkshiretradition #mastbeast #masthorse #obbyoss #ukfolklore #folktradition #folksong #folkmusic #calendarcustom #guising #folklore

Always on this day we read the "Ballad of the #MariLwyd" by Vernon Watkins. It says "midnight…" so we'd wait until then, but given BSky's multiple time zones, we felt a need to share it a bit earlier. 💀🐴🕛 #newyearsnight #skullhorse #darkness #deadreturn #folklore

Another great listen (30 min) in the dark days at year's end: #IsySuttie recalling and re-experiencing the eerie terror of winter's Winster #Guisers and their #mumming horse (and why such fear is fun, and good for you…) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... #wildhorse #hobbyhorse #folkcustom #folkplay

If you're in the UK (or have a suitable VPN), this is worth a listen (15 min, largely if not totally accurate): #MariLwyd #YFariLwyd #HoodenHorses #Hoodening #Habergeiß #Turoń #Corlata #Nuuttipukki #Schimmelreiter #guising #folkbeasts #morrisbeasts www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... ...

The #Mummers of #BoydenGate performed again today, to a reasonable audience (including several dogs, one of whom got very excited by St George's gizzards!). They were followed by the #WantsumMorrisMen on stand 3 of their 4-stop itinerary (Birchington, St Nicholas-at-Wade, Marshside, Sarre).

A question for #folklore folk: apparently Steve Roud's book The English Year says #wassail was "primarily a female custom". Really? [The picture here may well be misleading: see ALT text.]

We'd like to think you've heard of our Dobbin, The Kent #hoodenhorse, who this week's out jobbin' If local - which even includes some from Lon-don Please do come along and share in the fun, If not, you'll find plenty of stuff on the web (and most other socials: Dobbin's a celeb!) hoodening.org.uk

First night of the #EastKent #Thanet #hoodening season: St Nick village hall 7.30ish, Tartar Frigate #Broadstairs 9.30ish. New horse (i.e. the two-legged bit)! Expect us to be as 'word perfick' as usual. ;-)

Our 2024 charity is SERV Kent, who carry urgent blood supplies across #EastKent, at their own expense. We aim to cover the costs of 2 bikes for next year. Please donate at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding... (we'll have a QR code at our #hoodening performances), or throw some notes in the nosebag. 🐴

Some #Krampus now seem rather tame - too cute, sanitized, Disneyfied. We like watching the old footage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=go9h..., even better in its original 1945 context (Yamashita & Hess trials, floods with a great musical score, etc.): digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/video/30665/... 👹

Another, hitherto unknown, horse guising tradition, with a unique head design? The caption mentions Priddy Folk Festival 1932, and a 'custom where players entertain petrol pump patrons with raucous, improved entertainment, tracing back to the #hoodening practices of West [sic] Kent'. 😕 qv ALT

Our Hoodening plans are always liable to change last minute, but the provisional schedule for 2024 is now as shown below and at hoodening.org.uk/hoodening-sc... 🐴

We've arrived... the Hooden Horses are just waking up for the new season. #folklore